ROSES ARE GREY

“A single rose can be my garden... A single friend, my world.” Leo Buscaglia
 

I’m in a strange mood all day today: Sunshine and rain, laughter and tears, success and failure, major and minor, pleasure and pain… Here is the perfect song that encapsulates my day. Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose”.

FOOD FRIDAY: GADO-GADO

“The wish for healing has always been half of health." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
 
Gado-Gado is an Indonesian vegetable dish, which means “mixtures”. The exact composition of the vegetable mixture varies, but usually comprises seasonal vegetable that are locally available. Typically, authentic gado-gado does not have carrot and tomatoes. Depending on your greengrocer’s stocks and how well Asian vegetable are represented you may use the following (vegetarians may omit the objectionable ingredients):
 
Gado-Gado (Jakarta Style)
Ingredients
 
Blanched: Shredded, chopped, or sliced green vegetables such as cabbage, kang-kung, young boiled jack fruit, string beans, bitter melon, and corn

Uncooked: Sliced cucumber, bean sprouts and lettuce

Fried: Tofu and/or tempeh

Sliced boiled potatoes

Boiled eggs, sliced
 
Peanut sauce dressing is the characteristic feature of the dish, and this is poured on top of the vegetable salad before serving. The composition of this peanut sauce varies also, but it is warmed before mixing and serving.

Ground fried peanuts (kidney beans may be substituted for a richer taste)

Coconut sugar/palm sugar (can substitute brown sugar)

Chillies (according to taste)

Lime juice

Terasi (dried shrimp paste)

Tamarind water to dilute
 
Method

Assemble the cold vegetables and eggs in a pleasing arrangement on lettuce leaves. Pour on the warm peanut sauce and serve immediately. This is a complete meal in itself. Gado-gado is always served with krupuk (kind of crackers, usually tapioca crackers), or also with emping (Indonesian style fried crackers, which are made from melinjo). In Indonesia, Gado-gado is usually served with rice or lontong (rice cake wrapped in banana leaf).
 
This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

WOLF IN GRENADA, GATHERING IVY

“Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.” - Proverb
 

Today is the National Day of Grenada, an island country and Commonwealth realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Grenada is located northwest of Trinidad and Tobago, northeast of Venezuela, and southwest of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Grenada is also known as the “Island of Spice” because of the production of nutmeg and mace crops of which Grenada is one of the world's largest exporters. Its size is 344 square kilometres, with an estimated population of 110,000. Its capital is St. George’s. The national bird of Grenada is the critically endangered Grenada Dove.
 

Today is also the anniversary of the birthday of:
Innocent XII (Antonio Pignatelli), Pope of Rome (1615);
Charles Bonnett, naturalist of parthenogenesis fame (1720);
Joseph Priestley, chemist (1733);
Josef II, Holy Roman Emperor (1741);
Percival Lowell, astronomer (1855);
Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (1860);
Hugh (Seymour) Walpole, novelist (1884);
Janet Flanner, writer (1892);
Henry Hathaway, director (1898);
George Seferis (Yorgos Seferiadis), Nobel laureate (1963) Greek poet (1900);
Walter H. Annenberg, publisher/philanthropist (1908);
Ron(ald Lafayette) Hubbard, US scientology cult founder/author (1911);
Tessie O’Shea, actress (1918);
Neil Sedaka, singer/songwriter (1939);
Deborah Raffin, actress (1953).
 

Today’s birthday plant is the ivy flowerheads, Hedera helix.  It is symbolic of a need of support, tenacity, wedded love, fidelity and immortality.  It is a plant of Saturn and in some circles considered an evil omen as it kills whatever it embraces.
 

The planet Uranus was discovered on this day in 1781 by the astronomer William Herschel. The planet was originally called Georgius Sidus to honour king George III, patron of Herschel.
 

Hugo Wolf (1860–1903), an Austrian composer is one of the great masters of the German art song. He wrote over 300 lieder, in which he adapted Wagner’s musical conceptions. He also wrote an opera, Der Corregidor (1895), choral works, and chamber music. He is best known for his musical settings of the poetry of Goethe and Italian and Spanish writers. His Italian Songbook, a setting of mainly anonymous Italian folk lyrics, is lovely.
 

Dying on this day: In 1619, Richard Burbage, English actor who built Shakespeare’s Globe theatre; in 1881, Czar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated by anti-monarchist bombers; 1901, Benjamin Harrison, 23rd US president; in 1943, Stephen Vincent Benet, US poet best known for John Brown’s Body; in 1947, Angela Brazil, English author.

SO FAR FROM ME

“Though lovers be lost, love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.” - Dylan Thomas
 
Another week, another image from Magpie Tales for our delectation and inspiration. Pardon me, Robin Gosnall, for turning the lights out on your vista, but the moon was waiting too impatiently in the wings…
 
So Far from Me
 
You are so far,
So far away from me,
O’er land and sea;
As far as star above
In evening sky, my love,
Still bright to see…
 
You are so far
Away from me, as moon,
Or sun above, at noon;
So far and yet so near
Like music in my ear,
So good to hear…
 
You are so far,
An island so alone,
In midst of sea unknown;
So far away you flee,
And yet a part of me
Forever here…
 
You are so far,
Untouchable, you seem
A silver moon’s beam;
As far as distant shore
Where love you swore
Eternally…
 
You are so far,
Forever gone from me,
A lock without a key;
As far as heaven high,
And yet forever nigh,
Deep in my heart.

BELATED MOVIE MONDAY - '13'

“Gambling is a disease of barbarians superficially civilized.” – Dean William Inge
 
Last weekend we watched the 2010 Géla Babluani thriller “13”, starring Sam Riley, Alice Barrett, Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone, Jason Statham and Gaby Hoffmann. This was a good little thriller that was based on the Russian roulette idea and highlighted the perils of gambling, especially when the stakes are so high that they involve human lives. It paints a horrible picture of the lowest forms of human and the evil aspects of human nature.
 
The story begins in Talbot, Ohio, where an honest family of limited means finds themselves in dire economic straits when the father requires expensive, life-saving surgery. The son Vince (Riley), an electrician, overhears a man talking about making an obscene amount of money in just one day. Vince is fixing the electrical wiring in the man’s house and when the man overdoses on drugs, Vince finds a letter with instructions and a mobile phone that the man has received, both of which are connected with the money-making operation. Vince takes the man’s place and travels to New York to await contact and further instructions. He ends up at a remote house where wealthy men bet on who will survive a complicated gambling game of Russian roulette. Vince is Number 13 and even though his false identity is discovered very early in the piece, it’s too late for the gamblers not to use him. The psychological stress on Vince is immense as he attempts to cheat injury and death and make enough money to save his family.
 
The film is seems slightly overlong (even at 91 minutes) and could do with some editing down or alternatively a more substantial subplot. The flashbacks showing the lives of a selected few other players are a digression and an annoyance rather than a genuine subplot that highlights the main plot. Apparently this is a remake of a 2005 French film “13 Tzameti” by the same director, which has received more positive criticism and a higher rating in IMDB. I have not seen this earlier film, but I suspect that as is the case with many Hollywood remakes of foreign films, the second version is inferior.
 
The film is nevertheless a good study of gambling and how far gambling men will go to get their thrills. Cock-fights and dog-fights seem very tame compared to the “game” portrayed in this film. That such a gruesome gambling scheme could exist is a horrifying thought, but the way that it is depicted on film is quite chilling and the violence – both explicit and implicit is alarming. This film is not for the lily-livered and could cause many people to flinch and turn the DVD player off. It lays bare the dregs of humanity that resort to such activities and exemplifies very well the saying that “Humans are the basest of beasts”.

ART SUNDAY - FRANCISCO BAYEU

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” - Saint Augustine of Hippo

Francisco Bayeu y Subías (1734-1795) was a Spanish painter famous for his paintings in the Romantic, Neoclassical and Baroque styles. Bayeu y Subías was also a part of a famous family of artists, which included his two brothers, Ramón and Manuel. Little is known of Francisco Bayeu y Subías’s early childhood except that he was born in Zaragoza and it is therefore most likely that he began his education here either with the Jesuits or the Escolapios. At the age of fourteen, Francisco began training with the Baroque Spanish painter José Luzán Martínez until the year of 1753. When the painter Antonio González Velázquez arrived in Zaragoza, he hired Francisco Bayeu y Subías as an apprentice. The relationship between the two must have been good as for many years, Antonio González Velázquez financially supported the young Francisco with his studies in Madrid at the “Academia Real de Bellas Artes de San Fernando”.

From 1753, Francisco Bayeu y Subías worked as an artist in Madrid. In 1758 he returned to Zaragoza where he acquired a large clientele. Here he married Sebastiana Merclein y Salillas, the daughter of another local painter who was familiar with the Aragonese art market, which was in fact one of the reasons for the marriage. From this point on, Bayeu y Subías’s commissions increased and his works became popular. The most famous work of this period was the piece he painted for the “Monasterio Jerónimo de Santa Engracia de Zaragoza”

In 1763, Francisco Bayeu y Subías was invited to Madrid by Anton Raphael Mengs in order to work collaboratively on the decoration of the Royal Palace. With the help of Mengs, Francisco became one of the most popular artists in Madrid. From then on, the majority of Bayeu y Subías’s paintings would be for the Royal Court, and were often portraits of Royal Family. Francisco Bayeu y Subías was named an official Court painter in 1767 by the Spanish King, Charles III of Spain. While at Court in Madrid, Francisco Bayeu y Subías met the young Francisco Goya whom he protected and helped out. Goya even married Bayeu y Subías’s sister, Josefa Bayeu in 1773.

Bayeu y Subías was considered to be an excellent fresco painter and was often commissioned with the interior decoration of buildings. Together with Anton Raphael Mengs, Francisco painted many of the rooms in the various Royal palaces including the Palacio Real in Madrid, the Palacio de Aranjuez and the Palacio de El Pardo. During this time he also painted in many churches too such as the Convento de la Encarnación in Madrid, the Basílica del Pilar in Zaragoza, and the cloisters in the Cathedral of Toledo.

While painting the Basilica of Pilar in Zaragoza, Francisco Bayeu y Subías also employed Francisco Goya to help out as well as employing some members of his own family. It was during this project that the two artists fell out and became rivals, as both were considered to be important artists of the Royal Court.

In recognition of Bayeu y Subías’s work, he received many titles and awards. He became the Head Director of Painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid in 1765, among other high positions in other Spanish art schools. He eventually became the director of the Academy in 1795. Francisco Bayeu y Subías also received much compensation from the Royal Court in reward for his achievements. Francisco Bayeu y Subías continued working and painting frescoes, content with his large salary from the Spanish Royal Family. However in 1795, he fell ill and did not recover, dying in the early morning of the 5th of August of the same year in Madrid.

His subjects at the Toledo cathedral are scenes from the life of St. Eugenio. There are fifteen works by the painter in the Museum of the Prado at Madrid. Among them are “The Coronation of the Virgin”, “The Ascension”, “The Evangelist St. Matthew”, “The Evangelist St. Mark”, “The Evangelist St. Luke”, “The Evangelist St. John”, “Olympus” — all studies for more important works. Don Francisco was also an etcher, and executed a small number of plates.

The work above is “Saint James being visited by the Virgin” (1760). Legend credited Saint James with bringing Christianity to Spain. When passing through Zaragoza he was visited by the Virgin, who gave him with a statuette of herself on a jasper columnar pillar. This gave the name of “El Pilar” to enormous basilica has grown on the site, one of the most venerated shrines in Spain. The subject is therefore popular in Zaragoza. Sketches made by Antonio Gonzales Velázquez in 1753 for frescoes in the dome seem to have influenced Bayeu’s design. This was a perhaps a private version of these works. It also shows the influence of Giaquinto on Bayeu.

MOZART FOR SATURDAY

“What is classical music if not the epitome of sensuality, passion, and understated erotica that popular music, even with all of its energy and life, cannot even begin to touch?” - Lara St. John Read
 
Another hot day, the sixth in a row above 30˚C and the forecast says this will be maintained over the next few days. Quite unusual for Melbourne, where a few days of heat are succeeded by a pleasant cool change, even in Summer. Now with Autumn officially begun, it looks as though we may have quite a few weeks to wait for the cooler weather – at least that is what the long-range weather prediction says…
 
We had a pleasant Saturday, despite the heat, with breakfast in the garden, some music playing in the background and the smell of jasmine, roses and flowering herbs in the warm air. We then went out for some shopping and visited the library before returning to the coolness of the house (thank goodness for air conditioners!).
 
In the evening the return to pleasant routine… Here is the Mozart Clarinet concerto in A major, K622. This was written in 1791 for the clarinettist Anton Stadler. It consists of the usual three movements, in a fast-slow-fast form: 1. Allegro 2. Adagio, and, 3. Rondo: Allegro. It was also one of Mozart’s final completed works, and his final purely instrumental work (he died in the December following its completion). The concerto is notable for its delicate interplay between soloist and orchestra, and for the lack of overly extroverted display on the part of the soloist (no cadenzas are written out in the solo part). It is a great favourite of mine, but also it seems of many other Australians as it was voted the most enjoyable classical work of all some years ago in an ABC Classic FM radio survey.
 

FOOD FRIDAY - TARTUFO

“Change in all things is sweet.” - Aristotle
 

Well, after some help of some competent computer geeks at the Apple Store, my computer problems were resolved and I am back on board with a fully functional laptop again. The weather has been unrelentingly hot in Melbourne these days and it doesn’t look as though relief is on the way in the near future…
 

What better than a recipe for a classic Italian dessert, the Tartufo, whose name is taken from the Italian word for “truffle”, which the dessert resembles in appearance. It is deliciously chocolaty and sweet, so enjoy on a special occasion, in small doses!
 

Tartufo Ice Cream
Ingredients
4 cups chocolate ice cream
1 cup glacé cherries, chopped
1 cup finely grated dark chocolate
20 choc ripple biscuits, finely crushed
1 and 1/2 cups dark chocolate
1/2 cup chopped milk chocolate
2 tsp oil
Cocoa powder
 

Method
Let ice cream stand at room temperature 10 minutes to soften slightly. Mix chopped cherries and the grated chocolate into the ice cream. Scoop ice cream mixture into eight balls using an ice cream scoop. Roll in crushed biscuits to coat. Place on wax paper-lined biscuit try and freeze until firm, about 3 hours.
 

In microwave-safe glass bowl, combine dark chocolate with oil. Melt on 50% power for 3-4 minutes, stirring after every minute, until melted and smooth. Remove from microwave and stir in 1/2 cup chopped milk chocolate, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth again. Cool to lukewarm.
 

Place frozen ice cream balls on a wire rack. Spoon melted chocolate over each ball, coating the top and sides. Place the coated balls on waxed paper and freeze again until firm, at least 2 hours. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving and dust with cocoa powder if desired.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part  of the Food Trip Friday  meme.

COMPUTER ISSUES

My computer has died and taken with it all of last week's photos and work... (Yes, I know, I should back up daily - my bad). Till the issue is fixed I'm afraid I won't post as regularly...

ANTHESTERIA

“Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.” - Aristophanes
 
Today is the first day of the Anthesteria (Flower Festival), one of the several Athenian festivals in honour of Dionysus, the wine god, held annually for three days in the month of Anthesterion (February–March) to celebrate the beginning of spring and the maturing of the wine stored at the previous vintage.
 
On the first day, the Pithoigia (“Jar Opening”) were celebrated and libations of the new wine were offered to Dionysus from the freshly opened casks. The rooms of each house were adorned with spring flowers, and the children over three years of age were bedecked with garlands. Drinking vessels were decorated with flowers, especially violets, which in any case were used to wine by steeping them in it.
 
The second day, Choes (“Wine Jugs”), was a time of popular merrymaking typified by wine-drinking contests in which even slaves and children participated. People dressed themselves gaily, some in the guise of the mythical personages in the suite of Dionysus, and paid a round of visits to their acquaintances. The primary activity of the day was a drinking competition, in which participants sat at separate tables and competed in silence at draining a chous (a five-litre container) of wine. Miniature choes were given to children as toys, and “first Choes” was a rite of passage.
 
Also on the second day, the state performed a secret ceremony in a sanctuary of Dionysus in the Lenaeum, in which the wife of the king archon went through a ceremony of marriage to Dionysus. The queen was assisted by 14 Athenian matrons, called geraerae, chosen by the archon and sworn to secrecy. The fullest description, which omits many details, is found in Apollodorus’s speech “Against Neaera.”
 
The third day, Chytroi (“Pots”) was a festival of the dead, for which, apparently, pots of seed or bran were offered to the dead. None of the Olympian gods were included in the prayers and no one tasted the pottage, which was food of the dead. Although no performances were allowed at the theatre, a type of rehearsal took place, at which the players for the ensuing dramatic festival were selected (remembering that Dionysus was also the patron god of the theatre). On these days, it was believed, the souls of the dead came up from the underworld and walked abroad; people chewed leaves of whitethorn and smeared their doors with tar to protect themselves from evil. A common invocation was: “Away with you, Keres (evil spirits), it is no longer the Anthesteria”.

THIS MAGDALENE

“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it’s for or against.” Malcolm X
 
This week, Magpie Tales has selected a photo by the FoxandTheRaven as a springboard from which to launch our creative efforts. All I shall say about my offering is: ὁ νοῶν νοείτω
 
This Magdalene
 
This Magdalene
Brings no myrrh,
To shed over your feet,
No sweet-smelling balm
To anoint you.
 
This Magdalene
Brings rancour,
Bile and poison
That she spits out
With every accusation uttered.
 
This Magdalene
Will not loosen her hair
To wipe your feet,
She will not shed
A single tear for you.
 
This Magdalene
Brings you
Bitter malice,
As she demands her dues
From miscarried justice.
 
This Magdalene,
Croons no sweet word,
She’ll not relax you
With her music,
Nor her honeyed voice.
 
This Magdalene
Transforms herself
Into a raging Fury,
Ready to drain your blood
Until her loss of innocence
Is acknowledged,
And the crimes committed
Are punished…

MOVIE MONDAY - CHERNOBYL DIARIES

“As much horror as we have always created, we are a species that keeps moving forward, seeing new sights in new ways, and enjoying the journey.” - Martha Beck

We watched Bradley Parker’s 2012 film “Chernobyl Diaries” starring Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowski and Olivia Dudley at the weekend. This is a standard Hollywood, B-grade, horror potboiler, but it’s done fairly well and thus it is enjoyable in its own manner. It has one suitably interested, tense and anxious, pleasantly horrified with the film until its gory dénouement. One should not expect much, it is twaddle after all, so if the expectations are low, it can provide some mindless entertainment for an afternoon matinée viewing.

The young cast is tolerable and does an acceptable job of being stupid and bringing upon themselves the horrible fate that no amount of forewarning could prevent. True to genre, the heroes and/or heroines will do what no sane person would do, against all sober advice and against all wise warning. Nevertheless, this provides the basis for the movie’s plot to the titillation of the audience’s baser instincts. There is certainly gore enough in this film, although not excessive by the genre’s standards.

The plot is thin, but adequate for what the movie. Three Americans, Chris, his girlfriend Natalie, and their friend, Amanda leave the USA for a holiday in Europe. They go to Kiev, in the Ukraine to meet Chris’ brother Paul who lives there. Chris and Natalie are on their to Moscow, where Chris plans to propose Natalie. Paul proposes instead an “extreme tourism” adventure, convincing the girls to visit Chernobyl instead. Chris grudgingly accepts the majority vote. Extreme tourism agency is run by ex-soldier, now turned tourist guide, Uri. He tells them that they can go to Pripyat, the derelict city near the Chernobyl nuclear station, due to the level of radiation being acceptable for short periods at that distance. Zoe and Michael join the group and they travel in Uri’s van to Pripyat. On arrival, they find the road blocked by the military and they are forbidden entry. Uri uses a back way through the forest to reach the town. The tourist group spends the day visiting the area and the abandoned buildings. An encounter with a wild bear worries Uri and he decides to return to the van. The van does not start and Uri realises that the wires were chewed. Soon they discover that they are stranded in the town and that they are not alone...

Horror movies, the gorier the better, are a well-recognised and popular genre that repels and fascinates the viewer. Humans are fascinated by evil and horror, as long as they’re not personally involved. In the comfort of the cinema or in our own living-room in front of the TV we love to see monsters, ghosts and ghouls threaten people like us and we cringe as the inevitable gruesome plot develops and the forces of evil claim more and more victims.

People respond to the viewing of such films with similar physical and psychological symptoms to actually experiencing a genuine stressful situation: Increase in heartbeat, rapid breathing, and tensing of the muscles. The viewer is experiencing fear and their body is releasing adrenaline. Despite the unpleasantness they cause on viewing, the continued popularity enjoyed by the horror genre, both in literature and in the movie industry, tells us that we like these experiences of fear and distress.

A fascination with horror and evil has a long history. In all cultures there tales of the supernatural. Myths and legends based on the places of the damned and the restless dead, like graveyards and cemeteries have been told by people for centuries, robbing them of sleep and causing reactions of fear and disgust. At the same time, however, many of these stories have a triumphant conclusion, where good defeats evil and the forces of darkness are overcome by light and righteousness. A mirror of the world, perhaps, where we wish (and expect) favourable outcomes in situations that may well be out of our control.

Tension and excitement are often seen by people as positive, and in this context we talk of the ‘suspense effect.’ Besides this tension people experience when they come into contact with horror stories, however, there is another factor at work: The fear that is kindled in us by coming face to face with the supernatural. Human beings show an affinity with the ‘spirit world’, and even in these times of high technology, hard science and debunking of myths, millions upon millions of people still believe in ghosts, evil spirits and the supernatural.
 
People first encounter ‘spirits’ in their dreams, when they dream of someone who has died for example. This can cause absolute terror if the ‘vision’ is in the horrifying context of a nightmare. We wake up in a cold sweat with the events we have ‘experienced’ in our nightmare fresh in our mind and quite believable. It is a trick played by our brain as it discharges and processes information and data during our sleep. As human beings, we process knowledge and experiences on a metaphorical basis in our dreams. This is a culturally independent process. Furthermore, it is well documented that if people believe a curse has been placed upon them this can result in major physical consequences ranging all the way through to heart failure and death. Witchdoctors pointing the “bone of death” at susceptible individuals who believe in it wield enormous power.
 
As with everything that preoccupies people, these kinds of dramatic occurrences have become established in literature. There are any number of folktales in which the rogues and villains die from sheer terror when they see the ghosts who are out for revenge. When the movie was invented later on, horror then took up residence in the cinema. It serves a cathartic purpose and everyone of us can have safe cheap thrills in our own lounge room!

ART SUNDAY - BOTTICELLI

“The mind of the Renaissance was not a pilgrim mind, but a sedentary city mind, like that of the ancients.” - George Santayana
 
Botticelli (Sandro Filipepi) ca. 1445 – 1510 was an Italian Renaissance painter whose large canvases idealise female youth and beauty. Sandro Botticelli was born Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi in Florence around 1445. “Botticelli” was a nickname applied to his corpulent brother who was nicknamed “il botticello” - the small barrel. Even though Sandro was not fat, the nickname seem to have stuck for all family members...
 
Boitticelli  worked in Florence all his life and today, many of his works are on display in the amazing Uffizi museum. The only interruption from his life in Florence was his short stay in Rome, where he produced three frescoes for the Sistine Chapel. After his training with Frà Filippo Lippi, father of Filippino Lippi, Botticelli fell in with the Florentine rulers of the day - the De’ Medici family. Through circles surrounding the artistic Lorenzo “il Magnifico” he received commissions for classical works, including the “Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” (Spring). At the same time he worked on a religious body of works.
 
When Lorenzo’s died (1492) and the De’ Medici family declined, Botticelli all but stopped producing classical works. Botticelli became a follower of the monk Savonarola who was a prominent civic leader in Florence, advocating a puritan and spiritual life. Savonarola renounced the luxurious and “ungodly” lifestyle of Florence’s rulers and stressed giving up all worldly things. He was very charismatic and often spoke of death and God’s wrath upon the people.
 
Many of Botticelli’s previous paintings were considered ungodly and were burned along with objectionable books and playing cards. When Savonarola’s popularity declined, he himself was burnt at the stake in the centre of Florence. Many followers fled the city, but Botticelli stayed and continued to paint. Most of his works now had a religious theme. Religious symbolism in his paintings was widespread, just as allegorical and mythological allusion was in his previous thematic period.

Botticelli became known as an altarpiece painter and earned large amounts of money through church commissions. However, his later years seemed to be a disturbing and unsettling time for him. As times changed in Florence, Botticelli tried to keep up. He often took on difficult commissions that other painters turned down. His changing style reflected that Botticelli was struggling to keep up with the changing tastes of a fickle public. His paintings were full of emotion raging from violence to grace and compassion.
 
Botticelli died at the age of 65. There are reports of him beings poor and unaccomplished at his death. This could be attributed to the rising popularity of new and contemporary artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo Da Vinci. Even though his work is now thought to be among the most masterful of his time, his work lay forgotten for over 400 years after his death. Looking back at history, he now has the respect he earned through a lifetime of achievement.
 
The painting above is from a series of paintings that Botticelli executed to illustrate the picaresque stories of Boccaccio’s “Decameron” It is the “The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti (I)” of 1487. It is a modest work, 83 × 138 cm, tempera on wood, currently exhibited in the Prado Museum in Madrid. It is an illustrative work of one the climactic moments of the story. Botticelli’s work displays unequalled skill at rendering narrative texts, whether biographies of saints or stories from Boccaccio's Decameron or Dante's Divine Comedy, into a pictorial form that is at once exact, economical, and eloquent.

Botticelli revels here in the savage violence of the scene where the naked female figure is beset upon by dog and hunters alike in a brutal rendition of what seems to be punishment of a heinous crime. The viewer cannot be helped to be moved to pity for this woman, whose crime, however extreme does not seem to merit this savage and vicious punishment. The serenity of the setting and the soft tones of twilight Botticelli has used is a stark contrast to the scene played out in the foreground. The painting is as much an illustration of Boccaccio’s tale as it is  social commentary on the fate of women as second class citizens in Botticelli’s time.

HÄNDEL FOR SATURDAY

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.” - Lao Tzu
 
For Music Saturday, one of the most important works of the Baroque by one of the giants of music. Georg Friedrich Handel Concerti Grossi Op 6, Nos 1-12.
 
Handel was born to Georg Handel (1622-97) and Dorothea Taust (1651-1730). Handel’s father, Georg, was a barber-surgeon for the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels; his mother was the daughter of a pastor. Because Handel’s father wanted him to become a lawyer, Georg prevented Handel from playing any musical instruments. However, Handel managed to sneak past his father’s command by playing the hidden clavichord in the attic. At the age of 9, the Duke heard Handel playing the organ and convinced Georg to let Handel study music under Friedrich Zachow. When Handel was just 12, his father died leaving Handel as the “man of the household.”
 
Perhaps just in case Handel’s musical career was not as successful as he hoped it would be, records show that Handel had, in fact, enrolled into Halle University in 1702. A month later, Handel was appointed organist at the Calvinist Cathedral, but after one year, his contract was not renewed. Handel decided that he would follow his musical dreams and shortly thereafter, he left Halle for Hamburg. In Hamburg, Handel played violin and harpsichord for the only opera company in Germany that existed outside the royal courts, and also taught private lessons. Handel wrote his first opera, Almira in 1704. In 1706, Handel moved to Italy, where he gained a wealth of knowledge on setting Italian lyrics to voice. In 1710, he was appointed Kapellmeister at Hanover, but soon took leave to London. Then, in 1719, he became musical director of the Royal Academy of Music.
 
Much of Handel’s time during the 1720’s and 30’s was spent composing operas. However, he still found time to compose many other works. During the last few years of the 1730’s, Handel’s operas were not as successful. Afraid of his future success, he responded by focusing more on oratorio. In 1741, Handel composed the wildly successful Messiah, which was originally sung by a choir of 16 and an orchestra of 40. He left to Dublin for the premiere of the piece. During the last ten years of Handel’s life, he regularly performed his Messiah. Because of its success, he returned to London and with a new found confidence he composed another oratorio, Samson along with many others. Before his death, Handel had lost his vision due to cataracts. He died on April 14, 1759. He was buried at Westminster Abbey, and it was said that over 3,000 people attended his funeral.

FOOD FRIDAY - VEGGIE KORMA

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.” - Paul McCartney
 
For Food Friday today, an Indian Vegetarian dish, which is tasty, nutritious and healthful. Add some rice and you have a complete, filling meal.
 
Vegetarian Korma
Ingredients
 
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion finely chopped
3 cardamom pods, crushed
2 tsp each ground cumin and coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
5 cm piece ginger, finely chopped
800g mixed vegetables: Carrot, cauliflower, potato, zucchini, chopped
300 mL hot vegetable stock
200g frozen peas
200 mL plain Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp ground almonds (optional)
 
Method
Heat the oil in a large pan. Cook onion with the dry spices over a low heat for 5-6 minutes until the onion is golden. Add the chilli, garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute, then toss in the vegetables (except the peas) and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Add the stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the peas, cooking for 3 minutes more until the vegetables are tender.
Remove from the heat and stir through the yoghurt and ground almonds, if using. Serve garnished with chopped coriander if desired,  and accompany with basmati rice or naan bread on the side.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part fo the Food Trip Friday meme.

AUSTRALIA'S HOTTEST SUMMER

“As human beings, we are vulnerable to confusing the unprecedented with the improbable. In our everyday experience, if something has never happened before, we are generally safe in assuming it is not going to happen in the future, but the exceptions can kill you and climate change is one of those exceptions.” - Al Gore
 
It’s official! Australia has experienced its hottest Summer on record. Average temperatures beat the record set in the summer of 1997-98, and daytime maximum temperatures knocked over the 1982-83 record. January 2013 has been the hottest month since records began in 1910. Our climate is changing and we now have the weather records to prove it.
 
Climate is a statistical description of weather. It describes the average weather experienced over a period of time, over either a single location, or averaged over a large region. Climate also describes how variable the weather is around those averages. Climate also describes trends: Longer-term changes in weather that are distinct from the shorter-term variability.
 
When it comes to climate change, there is often confusion as to when one should consider a particular meteorological event to be “just weather” or something more significant in a climatological context. Individual weather and climate events that scientists consider most significant are those that are both at the extremes of our historical experience, and consistent with quantifiable trends.
 
September 2012 to February 2013 were warmer than the previous high for that period, set in 2006-2007. Average summer temperatures across Australia were 1.1°C above the 1961-1990 average, surpassing the previous record, set in 1997-98, by more than 0.1°C. Daytime maximum temperatures also set a record; they were 1.4°C above normal, and 0.2°C above the 1982-83 record. And the most significant thing about all of these extremes is they fit with a well established trend in Australia, that is it’s getting hotter, and record heat is happening more often.
 
Australia has warmed by nearly a degree Celsius since 1910. This is consistent with warming observed in the global atmosphere and oceans. Over the next century, the world will likely warm by a further 2 to 5 degrees, depending on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. Under mid-to-high emissions scenarios, summers like this one will likely become average in 40 years time. By the end of the 21st century, the record summer of 2013 will likely sit at the very cooler end of normal.
 
An interesting feature of the heat this summer is that it occurred during a “neutral” period in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (that is, it was neither La Niña nor El Niño). Up until this year, six of the eight warmest summers, and the hottest three summers on record, occurred during El Niño years. This essentially means that the record was consistent with warming trends, and achieved without an extra push from natural variability associated with El Niño.
 
The oceans surrounding Australia have also been exceptionally warm. January 2013 was the second warmest on record, following an unusually hot 2012, and a record hot 2011 for Australian-region sea surface temperatures. These temperatures are measured very differently to air temperatures over land.
 
Apart from the heat, the summer of 2012-13 will be notable for rain and floods along the east coast, especially those which fell in late January as the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Oswald tracked south just inland from the coasts of Queensland and northern New South Wales, bringing heavy rains along the length of its track. A second round of heavy rain occurred in southeast Queensland and coastal New South Wales in the last week of February. The late January rainfalls were significant and led to major flooding in numerous rivers, especially the Burnett, which reached record levels after a one-day catchment-average rainfall which was nearly 70% above the previous record.
 
December 2012 was the hottest December on record for Southern Hemisphere land areas, and January 2013 was the hottest January. Australia was a large contributor to this, but so were southern South America and southern Africa. Many parts of southern Africa had their hottest January on record, while the month was also much hotter than normal in large parts of Argentina, Chile and Brazil. In parts of Patagonia, January temperatures were more than 4°C above normal.

We have to get used to records like this being broken as our climate changes worldwide. A few degrees up or down may not sound like much, but repeated small increases have a cumulative effect with many consequences on a global scale. Humans have relative little power to deal with weather at the best of times and where climate is concerned we have even less power. Global warming may be the problem presently, but it only takes a major volcanic explosion with much ash ejected into the atmosphere to have a very real effect on climate for many years – in this case a cooling effect.
 
“Following the huge eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, enough reflective volcanic aerosols were ejected into the atmosphere that the following year was known as the year without a summer.  But the effects of that debris have been much longer-lived.  According to the report in ‘Nature’ this week, the volcanic-induced cooling of the oceans caused by Krakatoa's eruption lasted almost a century, enough to offset a large amount of anthropogenic rises in ocean temperature and sea level.  In plain English, were it not for Krakatoa going boom all those years ago, we'd be in a worse state currently than we are.” (Jonathan M Gitlin, Feb 10 2006).
 
Whether we modify our behaviour that may be instrumental in climate change or not, there are forces of nature at play on our planet that demonstrate to us that we humans are puny and impotent. What we must do is act wisely, take care of our environment in the best way we can and hope for the best in terms of natural events that we have no control over…

KALEVALA DAY

“Thus the wise and worthy singer 
Sings not all his garnered wisdom;
Better leave unsung some sayings
Than to sing them out of season.” - The Kalevala
 
February 28, is Kalevala Day in Finland. The Kalevala is Finland’s national epic poem, researched and transcribed by Dr. Elias Lönnrot (1802-1835). Lönnrot and his assistants travelled throughout the country, asking people to tell them whatever they could remember about the folklore surrounding Kalevala, the “Land of Heroes”. On February 28, 1835, after years of research, Lönnrot signed the preface to the first edition of the poem. Its more than 20,000 verses brought to life the adventures of such characters as the warrior Lemminkäinen and the blacksmith Ilmarinen, who played a part in the creation of the world when he forged the “lids of heaven”. This event marked a turning point in Finnish literature; up to this point, little had been written in the Finnish language. Lönnrot is honoured with parades and concerts on this day.
 
The first edition of the Kalevala appeared in 1835. Inspired by his later collecting trips and the folk poetry recorded by others, Lönnrot decided to broaden his epic to create a more extensive whole. The second edition of the Kalevala appeared in December 1849. The work contains 22,795 lines of verse divided into 50 distinct cantos. To distinguish between the two editions, the expanded version was referred to as the “New Kalevala” and the earlier version came to be known as the “Old Kalevala”.
 
The Kalevala is made up of metric folk poems: epic and lyric poetry, as well as incantations and wedding poetry. The metre of the poetic language, generally known as the kalevala-metre, is trochaic tetrametre, the prevailing poetic metre north of the Gulf of Finland and in Ingria.
 
The publication of the Kalevala was a significant factor in the National Awakening movement in Finland, part of the patriotic nationalist revival taking place throughout Europe during the mid-19th century. This led ultimately to Finnish independence and to a greater role for literature in Finnish, rather than in Swedish as had been the rule prior to this.   The poems of the Kalevala have been illustrated by some of the country’s greatest artists.
 
Composer Jean Sibelius, too, made extensive use of Kalevala themes in his music, for example in the Four Lemminkäinen Legends, Pohjola’s Daughter, the Kullervo Symphony, and the symphonic poem Tapiola. The epic poem was also reportedly a source of inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien in his “Lord of the Rings” novels, and was definitely in the mind of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , who adapted the idiosyncratic Kalevala meter for his Song of Hiawatha.
 
In a completely different vein, Kalevala characters and places still live on in business life, in the names given to many key Finnish companies, although in recent years there is a tendency to replace traditional names with more “international” ones!

THE MUSIC OF YOUR THOUGHT

“Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.” - Salvador Dalí
 
Surrealism is a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature, which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images. Launched in 1924 by a manifesto of André Breton and having a strong political content, the movement grew out of symbolism and Dada and was strongly influenced by Sigmund Freud. In the visual arts its most notable exponents were André Masson, Jean Arp, Joan Miró, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Man Ray, and Luis Buñuel.
 
Magpie Tales has presented us with a sculptural confection by that master of Surrealism, Salvador Dalí. As a child, Dalí’s first sculpture was a clay copy of the Venus de Milo. He later recalled: “My first experience as a sculptor gave me an unknown and delicious erotic joy.” The original Venus de Milo, now on display at the Louvre Museum, is one of the most famous works of Greek antiquity, a marble sculpture of the goddess of love. This armless figure has become the icon of classical female beauty.
 
The goddess Venus held a great attraction for Dalí, who returned to her throughout his career. She is the focus of his 1939 “Dream of Venus” Pavilion at the World’s Fair, where the viewer is invited to walk through her dreams. In The “Hallucinogenic Toreador” of 1969, shadows across her body become the source for an illusion of a bullfighter’s face. In a 1973 hologram, she appears as musician Alice Cooper’s microphone.
 
For this 1936 Surrealist object, Dalí cuts six drawers into Venus, transforming the Greek goddess into a piece of living furniture, a visual pun on the phrase “chest” of drawers, also known as a bureau. Her simple, white surface, is complemented by elegant fur knobs, a tribute to her beauty and erotic potential. In addition, the drawers are a metaphor for the way Freudian psychoanalysis opens the hidden areas of the unconscious. In Dalí’s words: “Freud discovered the world of the subconscious on the tumid surfaces of ancient bodies, and Dali cut drawers into it.”
 
Here is my contribution to this week’s Magpie.
 
The Music of Your Thought
 
“Of all the numbers of the alphabet
I adore crimson…”, she said;
And I looked at her bemused,
Amused too, by her propensity to add colour
To even the dullest topic.
 
“The sea, she flies so well, chasing rocks
As they rise up to the bottom…”
I smiled at her, basking in the sunshine
Of her hyperboles, approaching nearest to her star
In that single moment of a hyperbolic perihelion.
 
Of all the music of your touch,
I love sweetness…”, she added;
And I sang with my hand,
Leaving a trace of honey, treacly, sticky,
On her smooth skin.
 
“My secret thoughts live in a locked drawer
In my belly…”
I nodded, as I caressed her navel,
Wanting to open up her innermost
Secret hiding places to lose myself into.
 
“I appreciate the honesty of pegasi
Who in their moulting season admit they cannot fly…”
She pensively remarked, stroking my shoulder blade,
And at that moment I knew,
As I prepared for a perpetual aphelion,
That I had lost her, evermore.

MOVIE MONDAY - MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

“When good Americans when they die go to Paris.” - Thomas Gold Appleton

Last weekend we watched the delightful 2011 Woody Allen film “Midnight in Paris” starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni and Marion Cotillard. Allen both wrote and directed this whimsy and it is a glowing tribute to the great city of Paris, the past, love, art and literature. It won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, but also won another 16 awards and was nominated for another 52 distinctions.

The film is a loving tribute to the “Ville Lumière” as only a besotted American can do it (and I mean that as a compliment!). The cinematography is superb, the costumes and music wonderful, the rich ambience of times past and the spirit of place have been captured beautifully. The casting is very well done and one has the feeling of watching a rich cavalcade of the famous artists and thinkers of the 1920s who parade through the plot, the only reason being to be seen…

The story concerns Gil (Wilson) and Inez (McAdams), an American couple who travel to Paris as a tag-along vacation on Inez’s parents business trip. Gil is a rich and famous Hollywood writer but is struggling on his first novel. He falls in love with Paris and suggests to Inez that they should move there after they get married. Inez does not share his romantic notions of the city or the idea that the 1920s was the “golden age”. One night, when Inez goes off dancing with her friends, Gil takes a walk at midnight and discovers that he can slip into a time warp if he is at the right place at the right time and finds himself in his “golden age” of the Paris of the 1920s. Gil is jubilant and finds his recurring trips to the past a great source of inspiration for his writing. While his writing improves, his relationship with Inez becomes tense and strained…

Allen has made a similar film as a paean to a great city, his “Manhattan” of 1979. “Midnight in Paris”, however, is a much more mature and mellow work, where Allen allows his imagination free rein and where his distillation of what it is to live and love is spelt out quite clearly. Gil’s ventures into the past may fulfil him as an artist, but his life has to reach its full potential in his present time, and it is only when he realises this is the essence of his happiness that he is able to make the right decisions.

The film is a light and winsome fable. Light and frothy as a whipped cream dessert, rich with champagne bubbles and frollery (= frisky drollery :-). It is no classic but it doesn’t aspire to be. It is no masterpiece, but it is an enchanting and entertaining bauble that makes a point, no matter how self-evident and platitudinous it may be. The way that Allen serves us this confection appeals to our jaded palate and we sit there enjoying serve after serve. There is subtle humour and some wonderful one-liners, but no belly laughs. This is no slapstick.

We recommend this film, especially more so if you have been to Paris and have succumbed to its manifold charms…

ART SUNDAY - DAUMIER

“Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained.” - Helen Keller
 
Honoré Victorin Daumier (26 Feb 1808 - 10 Feb 1879) was a French artist, painter, draughtsman and sculptor who rose to prominence as the caricaturist of 19th century French politics and society. His determined focus on the foibles of 19th century France make him the one artist who comes closest to summing up this turbulent period of French history. Forced to quit school at the age of 12, Honore Daumier developed a life-long sympathy for the poor. Unfortunately, he sympathised so much with them that he died in debt and was buried in a paupers grave.
 
Honoré Daumier used his skills as a lithographer to ridicule French government and society. In his youth, he even ended up in gaol for caricaturing the French King. An extremely productive artist, he made almost 4,000 prints before going blind. He was also a talented painter and sculptor, but these works mainly became known after his death.
 
Daumier lived in an age of dramatic political, economic, and social upheaval. During his lifetime, there were five major changes in government as his countrymen grappled with the aftermath of the 1789 French Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was also taking place during this time, which served as a blow to the old social order, creating an entirely new class of impoverished industrial workers in the process. Against this backdrop, Honoré Daumier used his art as biting social commentary.
 
Honoré Daumier was born in 1808 in Marseilles, France. In 1816, his father moved the family to Paris to try his hand at poetry. His father did not achieve much economic success so at the age of 12, Daumier was forced to quit school and work at a bailiff's office. Witnessing the problems of those rifling in and out of jail imparted him with a life-long sympathy for the poor. At the age of 16, Daumier began receiving training in the art of lithography with Alexandre Lenoir and studying at the Academie Suisse.
 
Daumier used his print-making skills in several satirical publications of the era. During this period, this was a powerful social platform from which to influence the masses. In 1832, he published an offensive cartoon against the government and received a suspended sentence. He then published another anti-governmental cartoon that was just as vicious and was jailed for six months. Afterwards, he only caricatured the middle-class and particularly liked criticising lawyers and the justice system. In 1846, Daumier’s son was born and he married the mother of the child, a 24-year -old seamstress shortly afterwards. Sadly, his son died two years later.

In his old age Daumier increasingly worked on his sculptures and paintings. His works were accepted to exhibit at the Salon four times but received little attention, although modern critics consider them to be ahead of their time. Daumier was particularly interested in the theme of Don Quixote and painted one iconic image of him riding off into the sunset. In 1878, a few months before his death, his friends rounded up a number of his paintings to be shown at Durand-Ruel’s gallery. However, these works did not meet with much critical reception until after his death.
 
Daumier worked in a number of styles, depending on the medium. He was equally adept at caricature, naturalistic drawing, painting and sculpting. He is best known for his caricature works and he used the classic caricature techniques of physical absurdity to lay bare the cruelty, unfairness and pretension of 19th century French society and politics.
 
The medium of lithography allows for quick, sketchy, images, which create a sense of movement - and also a sense of a candid moment. Critics described him as a master at recording the unrehearsed moments of daily life. Daumier came to painting (and naturalism) fairly late in life and he painted religious as well as historical themes. If it were not for this inclusion of historical material, he would be considered purely a Realist. The naturalist philosophy believes in man’s futility against nature and some of Daumier's religious paintings suggest this. He also used everyday subjects, such as The Laundress, to provoke discussion about wider social issues. He was also interested in exploring literary themes, in particular the ones contained in the popular novel Don Quixote, the fool who thinks he’s a hero as he, in the famous scene, battles windmills. Daumier also tried his hand at sculpting, which was not a popular form of art at the time. His sculptures are known for being remarkably life-like.
 
“Le Wagon de Troisième Classe” (The Third-Class Carriage) of 1864 seen above, is one of a three-part series commissioned by Walter Thompson Walters, the other two works being The First Class Carriage and The Second Class Carriage. The inspiration for this painting came from the railroad itself and Daumier’s preoccupation with themes of social justice.
 
Like with many of Daumier’s later paintings, the loose handling and calligraphic brush work that he employs in The Third-Class Carriage is extraordinary. The painting is left unfinished, however, it is still obvious that Daumier seeks to capture the plight of the working class by capturing the quiet moments of their everyday lives. The dark colours and the crowded surroundings help to focus the viewer’s attention to the figures in the foreground.
 
The family depicted here, grandmother, mother and children with the notable absence of their menfolk, suggests that these women are making their way in the world on their own. One gets a sense of the circumstances through the weariness of their posture and the shabbiness of their clothes. Although the mother’s face is sweet, the weariness present in the grandmother’s face suggests the hardships that she must have experienced in her long life. Her shrewd face confronts the viewer, while the sleeping grandson still clutching a box besides him tells us that quite possibly this child is already working to support the family.